Muslims in India Are Hindus, Not Arabs; Speed Up Ghar Wapsi: Bhagwat
At a Lucknow harmony meeting, the RSS chief calls for accelerated reconversions, urges Hindu families to have at least three children, and warns of foreign powers plotting to divide Indian society.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told a social harmony meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday that Muslims living in India are also Hindus — they did not come from Arabia. He called for ghar wapsi to be accelerated and said those who return to Hinduism must be looked after and integrated into society.
On infiltration, Bhagwat was blunt: illegal infiltrators must be detected, deleted and deported. They should not be given employment.
On the falling Hindu birth rate, he said Hindu families must have at least three children. “The current population growth rate is 2.1 — it must be at least 3. Any society where the average falls below three children is a society that will cease to exist in the future,” he said. He appealed directly to newly married couples: “Tell them to have at least three children.” He added that the purpose of marriage must be the continuation of creation — not the fulfilment of desire — and that this sense of duty is what builds character.
On the UGC guidelines controversy, Bhagwat took a conciliatory line. He said laws must be followed by all, and if a law is wrong there are legitimate means to change it. He said one side feels the UGC framework works against them, another feels it works for them, but the dispute must not become a cause for caste conflict. The matter is before the Supreme Court, he noted, and whatever law the government makes should be obeyed. Using a metaphor, he said: “If a person has fallen into a pit, he must raise his hand to come out, and the person standing outside must lean down and extend his hand — only when both reach out will anything be achieved.”
Bhagwat expressed concern over growing caste divisions, saying: “We must not get caught up in caste. We have been trying to end it for decades, but caste is something that refuses to go.” He said the solution lies not in conflict but in coordination — lifting the weak rather than pushing one group down to raise another.
He warned the gathering about foreign interference, saying elements in countries like the United States and China are actively planning against India’s social harmony. “We must be alert. We must end mutual distrust and share in each other’s joys and sorrows,” he said.
On women, he said the mother is the foundation of the family. “We must not see women as helpless — she is the slayer of demons. Women must be trained in self-defence.” He said the West measures a woman by her role as a wife; India has always seen her as a mother — valued for her nurturing, not her appearance.
On the question of why the RSS had formed a Muslim forum, Bhagwat said Muslims themselves want to join the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and they have built the platform themselves.
He closed with a call to hold regular neighbourhood-level harmony meetings across the country. “When we meet, misunderstandings dissolve,” he said. “We must work to free ourselves from orthodoxy, help the weak, and build a society where everyone feels they belong.”
The two-and-a-half-hour meeting at the Saraswati Shishu Mandir auditorium in Nirala Nagar, Lucknow, was attended by representatives of the Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities as well as members of Ramakrishna Mission, ISKCON, Jai Gurudev, Shiv Shanti Ashram and Art of Living. Bhagwat is on a two-day visit to Lucknow on 17 and 18 February.
